Bring law to make CBI independent, says court

Fed up with political interference in the CBI's functioning, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said the government should bring in a law for ensuring the agency's independence, else it would be forced to issue directions to insulate the CBI from extraneous influence.

"We would like the law to be in place before the next date of hearing on July 10. We know that Parliament will not be in session, but there are ways to do it," the court said.

"The best thing would be that the law would be in place in between when we hear the matter again," the bench, also comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph observed. The CBI has to be "non-partisan" by law and an impartial agency, it emphasized.

"The golden day would be if the law is in place and we hope this to be before the next date of hearing," the bench observed.

The court noted that a query was put in this regard to attorney general GE Vahanvati, who submitted that he will seek instructions from the government and will report to the court on the next date of hearing.

"We wanted to know from attorney general if the central government intends to bring a law to ensure independence of CBI, its functional autonomy and insulation from external influence with a view to make CBI a non-partisan agency.